Bank robber blows up cash machine

PACKED AN IMPROVISED EXPLOSIVE DEVICE INTO THE ATM

- By ROB KENNEDY

PACKED AN IMPROVISED EXPLOSIVE DEVICE INTO THE ATM

A CONVICTED bank robber used explosives to blow up a cash machine.

Kristopher Follos packed the ATM with an improvised explosive device (IED) to try to steal thousands of pounds.

Despite causing huge damage to the machine in Northumberland, Follos and his mystery accomplice were foiled after the explosion failed to provide access to the cash drawers.

When officers went to his home, a block of flats where he was living with his mother and other elderly people, they found three further explosive devices and residents had to be evacuated while they were made safe by the army.

After his arrest, Follos admitted he had carried out two similar attacks on cash machines in the south of England. Now the 45-year-old, of Olivers Mill, Morpeth, has been jailed for eight years at Newcastle Crown Court.

It was on May 12 last year that the cash machine at Hedgley Service Station, at Powburn was blown up. At the time, it contained £14,862.

CCTV showed that at about 2.06am that day, an Audi A3 on false registration plates parked a short distance from the ATM.

Two people got out, including Follos and approached the cash machine on the garage fore court, with one of them kneeling down and pushing an item into the machine.

They then removed the package and both men returned to the car and drove away.